I recently read an article that said the SNES was the greatest of all time.... I would agree, i can't think of any other console that i had more exciting games..... i had so many games that i loved.....PS2 and intellivision are tied for 2nd.... thoughts

new consoles are not included for it is too early...

no dreamcast?

Do we define out own meaning of "greatness"?

If so, it is NES because of one word, nostalgia.

Pro-Wrestling: suplexing that pink dude out of the ring.
Super Mario: completing the game 3 times in a row, as fast as possible.
Tecmo Bowl: using Christian Okoye
Ikari Warriors: co-op
Double Dribble: Baseline 3 from out of bounds went in everytime.
Legend of Zelda: Just a great experience back then
10 yard fight: remember that?
Ghosts & Goblins: the music
Tag Team Wrestling: Cheap game, bad moves, but still fun
Bases Loaded: still one of the best baseball SIMS
RC Pro AM: my fav racer back then

Games for everyone back then. It wasn't just shooters, it wasn't about graphics. It was all fun.

sega genesis

No Sega Genesis? No Coleco Vision?

If you had a 360 and a Snes side by side back in the day or any other time you would take the 360 in a heartbeat.

Stop pretending warm fuzzies and memories of childhood sleepovers where you played side-scrolling crap for 8 hours at a time is what defines the best console ffs.

Who says it's not all fun now? C'mon.

You forgot a lot of consoles. Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, and Gamecube just to name a few.

Intellivision all the way. It came out when the original Atari was out. Football comparisons between the two were this: move squares around on the Atari, or move little animated pixel-dudes on the Intellivision.

Plus Intellivision had the über-cool 16-direction thumb control disc and 16 buttons on the controller. That was a radical leap forward in controller design. You slid the little plastic overlay in and all of a sudden you had random access to all 9 fielders in your baseball games. No more lame auto-switching or having to cycle through.

Intellivision was the bomb.

I hated the NES after it took over and killed everybody else off. NES had way better graphics with bit-mapped backgrounds or whatever they used, but the controller was such a step backwards from the Intellivision controller that I couldn't believe it took over the world.

how do you edit the poll??? i did forget N64 and genesis... but i am not going to put consoles that did not do well (saturn and gamecube, etc..)

Yeah you definitely left alot of winners off of that..

To keep the subject going though Id have to say my favourites are listed below. I've listed them in order.. basing the ranking off how much I played them.. how much fun I had playing them.

1. NES (not only did I play this the most.. these were the days I actually bothered to finish single player games)
2. Genesis (Madden, Bill Walsh college football, NBA Jam, Live, Coack K basketball versus friends.. priceless)
3. PS1 (played endlessly.. especially living on campus in-college and having access to every game a CD burner)
4. XBOX (actually saw alot of gaming time in my basement, amazing HD graphics, dd 5.1 sound, LIVE online play, custom soundtracks)
5. XBOX-360 (my current favourite.. I dream about COD4 at night)
6. Dreamcast (the most enjoyable football and basketball games ever.. NFL & NBA 2K had perfect gameplay/graphics/button simplisticity).
7. N64 (Goldeneye.. WWF vs NWO.. NFL Blitz.. I played all year long with friends).
8. SNES (Honestly never played it much.. SuperMario3 and Mortal Kombat are all I remember)
9. Atari 2600 (I cant even remember the games.. but I remember playing it).

I would have voted N64 were it on the list for no other reason than Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda OoT. Since it's not on there I voted PS1 because it's the other videogame system that defined my childhood and introduced me to Final Fantasy.

If you had a 360 and a Snes side by side back in the day or any other time you would take the 360 in a heartbeat.

Stop pretending warm fuzzies and memories of childhood sleepovers where you played side-scrolling crap for 8 hours at a time is what defines the best console ffs.

Who says it's not all fun now? C'mon.Well, the poll is about consoles, not games, so you are right, but I still think it is all about warm and fuzzies. For the same reason that no one's beer gravy fried chicken will ever taste as good as my moms! :)

Seriously, the stuff nowadays is too serious. It seems all the tech is prioritized over simple fun. Newer doesn't equate better when it comes to games. The consoles are nicer, but i think I appreciate the good ol NES for what it was, more than XBOX is now. Probably a reflection of myself more than anything else.

If you had a 360 and a Snes side by side back in the day or any other time you would take the 360 in a heartbeat.

Stop pretending warm fuzzies and memories of childhood sleepovers where you played side-scrolling crap for 8 hours at a time is what defines the best console ffs.

Who says it's not all fun now? C'mon.

No probably not but then again the reason I pick the 64 and PS1 over the 360 now is because I haven't developed any strong emotional attachment to my 360. As ridiculous as that sounds it's the truth. When I was 7 playing games like Mario 64, LoZ:OoT, FFVII, MGS (a little mature for a seven year old I know), Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and all the other great games of the era it was this new and exciting experience. Having spent my early years playing little more than the old 2D Mario games, which I still love, it was an amazing experience that really wrapped up my little seven year old mind. FFVII stands out in particular for it's brilliant storytelling and gorgeous graphics (for the time), yea I may not have even understood what was happening half the time but it didn't matter because I was so caught up in the game world.

As much as I love my 360 all it is is shoot, shoot, grenade, shoot, explosion, shoot, bang, shoot, shoot, shoot. Combine that with the simple fact that my imagination isn't what it once was and I just can't get as attached to the games. And I still get misty eyed looking back at the old superdeformed poorly rendered early polygonal characters of my youth and sometimes long for the days things didn't look so damn realistic. Then I fire up something like Bioshock or Mass Effect of course and take that back.

I've been playing back since Atari, Coleco and a SLEW of Commodore 64 games that I had back in my early youth but I can say now with great confidence that the best experience in all my life time has been with the X-BOX 360....hands down without a doubt....with HD TV and surround sound to boot! These young kids today have it GOOODDD I tell ya!! ....spoiled brats....lol...

No probably not but then again the reason I pick the 64 and PS1 over the 360 now is because I haven't developed any strong emotional attachment to my 360. As ridiculous as that sounds it's the truth. When I was 7 playing games like Mario 64, LoZ:OoT, FFVII, MGS (a little mature for a seven year old I know), Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and all the other great games of the era it was this new and exciting experience. Having spent my early years playing little more than the old 2D Mario games, which I still love, it was an amazing experience that really wrapped up my little seven year old mind. FFVII stands out in particular for it's brilliant storytelling and gorgeous graphics (for the time), yea I may not have even understood what was happening half the time but it didn't matter because I was so caught up in the game world.

As much as I love my 360 all it is is shoot, shoot, grenade, shoot, explosion, shoot, bang, shoot, shoot, shoot. Combine that with the simple fact that my imagination isn't what it once was and I just can't get as attached to the games. And I still get misty eyed looking back at the old superdeformed poorly rendered early polygonal characters of my youth and sometimes long for the days things didn't look so damn realistic. Then I fire up something like Bioshock or Mass Effect of course and take that back.

It's all because your older and video games aren't your world anymore(I hope). Just like I get nostalgic thinking what Christmas used to be.
I use my 360 for everything it does. My wife and kids enjoy the arcade games, I enjoy the WMC stuff and the games of course. I never would've dreamed what consoles would be doing someday back when I was blowing in my Nintendo to make it work.

I still fire up Snes in my brother's apt for some NHL 93 w/ Jeremy Roenick smacking dudes to the ice with the little blood patch. It's fun and I remember it with fondness but the old games just don't do it for me anymore.

This is not a valid poll without the Dreamcast on it. :) Lots of real light gun games, alot of really good RPGs, Shenmue, freakin Seaman.

Rez.

SNES the pinnicle of gaming. the 2d sprites were perfect and this enabled the devopers to focus on gameplay. Super metroid, Super mario bros, legend of zelda and TONS of other games made it fun. it was the perfect combo of easy pick up and play games that anyone could enjoy. You didnt need to know how to use 12 different buttons or anything like that. Yet at the same time, the games could be very complex and deep.

i dont think any console since then has been able to do that.

"i dont think any console since then has been able to do that."

It's called the DS. :)

neo geo. The games are still found in arcades and it has been out for like 15 or more years! How's that for longevity

I'd vote for the N64 if it were up there in your poll.
No probably not but then again the reason I pick the 64 and PS1 over the 360 now is because I haven't developed any strong emotional attachment to my 360. As ridiculous as that sounds it's the truth. When I was 7 playing games like Mario 64, LoZ:OoT, FFVII, MGS (a little mature for a seven year old I know), Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and all the other great games of the era it was this new and exciting experience.Sweet jebus! Nothing like console generations to make you feel old. N64 is my favorite all-time console, but I was into my 20s when it came out.

I'd vote for the N64 if it were up there in your poll.
Sweet jebus! Nothing like console generations to make you feel old. N64 is my favorite all-time console, but I was into my 20s when it came out.

Ha, yup I'm a youngin :p. Still hard to believe it's been 11 years since then though.

Where is Genesis?

When I was in grade school, my buddies dad had an Odyssey system, which was basically a single "pong" dot that you could move with a controller. You stuck little plastic sheets on the TV screen to define a game, and they were held in place by the static electricity. In games like "Downhill skiing", you stuck a sticker on the screen overlay where your skier-dot left the course. Then the other guy would try to get farther down the course.

Then in junior high there was the acoustic modem teletype that we could play "Bombast" and "StarTrek" on, and "Hunt the Wumpus" and "Advent". (The PDP computers in the day only recognized six character filenames, so you could type in "Adventure" to start the game, or be smart and only type "Advent".)

Why, when I was a kid.....we gamed with ones and zeros. And sometimes we ran out of ones! :)

Lol, that reminds me. My first "console" was a Tandy PC that came with a book of programs for games that you had to enter in one line at a time. You started it with /run and when you were done and you shut it off, your 3 hours of programming were gone. Tanks and pong, syntax errors. Good times.

All this poll is doing is segregating us by age...I smell discrimination! :D

You can't have a poll like this with any relevance. My Coleco Telstar was my first home videogame system, my neighbors Bally Astrocade was awesome, we ALL Owned ATari 2600's so that just ruled them all, the Intellivision my grandfather brought home to play Black Jack and Horse Racing on (he was like 65 and totally into electronic gadgets) blew my mind (still have it) when I fired up AUTO RACE for the first time, the Colecovision my friend had of course dominated them all....but my C64 blew them all away, including the Nintendo 8bit I owned for a few months and then sold off cuz I really didn't like it.

I didn't know anyone who owned an Odyssey II (And I never knew anyone who owned an Odyssey I) and I never knew anyone who had an Atari 5200 or 7800.....I knew a few guys who owned Atari 400 or 800 PC's....I didn't get back into consoles until I got the Genesis, TurboGrafx16 and SNES all in the span of one year (I was a whore!).

I cannot imagine anyone voting for anything other than the Atari or NES. The Atari was the first successful cart based console (HUGE coming from the Telstar/light gun era) and the NES was the first worlwide successful console. Nothing thats come after really made that kind of impact.

there may be many people who don't know anything about Atari or Intellivision so the poll may be skewed to one end.

My vote is for Atari or Intellivision as this is where it all starts.

Combat
Pong
Pit fall
defender
asteroids
olympics

the list goes on.

I'm sorry for showing my age, but for me it goes like this:
1. Genesis
2. Atari
3. Dreamcast
4. Xbox
5. Sega Master system ( I wonder if anyone remembers how Strider played on it!)

Yes I know I was a sega fanboy, but I did enjoy the consoles.

5. Sega Master system ( I wonder if anyone remembers how Strider played on it!)

With very little animation.

Outrun on SMS is still my fav version of the game.

SNES was a great system and platform. A lot of the game designs that were hashed out during the 8-bit eras were fully formed and mature on the SNES and the system was very capable graphically and aurally.

PlayStation and N64 were both cool (though PSX was worlds ahead of N64 except for Super Mario and Waverace), but the 3D in those systems was too crude and the gameplay was too experimental to stand the test of time, but they were a blast back then (like Twisted Metal). By PS2/Xbox you started to see developers get comfortable with 3D design and the graphics could start to do 3D right.

For me it would be, taking age into account and time to play (PS2 and Xbox had many excellent games, but college kept me from putting major time into many big games), it would probably be SNES, Xbox 360, PlayStation, Dreamcast.

Well, as much as I love the advancement of ultra-realism on the 360, I actually hold an emotional attachment to the last great system from legendary SEGA. I got off work, rode my bike to K-mart, and got the DREAMCAST and Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure truly wowed me! What a great night. Crazy Taxi, the introduction of the amazing 2k series-Nba 2k, Nfl 2k, Marvel vs. Capcom, Soul Caliber, etc.-some great, and very fun games. Ironically, most the same people who worked on the Official Dreamcast Magazine now work on the Official XBOX360 mag. Some people just have a habit of recognizing greatness.:cool:

But, out of all of the available choices, I've got to vote for the original SONY PLAYSTATION. Games like Symphony of the Night, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, NFL Gameday, really made for some of the best gaming days. On any system, a killer line-up is hard to forget.
NES will always be the Godfather.

I think the PS2 was the greatest, but the 2600 was a revelation...arcade games at home...

I'd vote Dreamcast too.

It had my favorite sports games in NFL2k and NBA2k. Also some of my other favorites like Crazy Taxi, Soul Caliber, and Tokyo Extreme Racer.

I was just telling somebody they need to do a new Crazy Taxi. An arcade release of the original would be awesome too though.

This whole thread fails due to the lack of Turboduo love, Dracula X, Spriggan, Neutopia, Legendary Axe, Y's 1 and 2, Bloody Wolf, Splatter House, Air Zonk, Gates of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, L-Dis, Blazing Lasers, etc owns all your Souls.

This poll will be kind of biased. Some people just didn't really get to play the NES or Atari. I didn't vote because I'll buy a console just to play one game. My gaming started around the Coleco and Atari 2600 days. And I've played and owned just about most gaming consoles minus the small players such as: The Jaguar, Neo Geo, Sega CD etc. I also avoided the Sega Saturn and pawned my Sega Genesis very quickly. I also don't own a PS3 for the same reason I didn't buy those other systems. It doesn't have any game I want to play on it.

Cool thread, I vote for SNES. The NES was the start of many legendary franchises but the extended color pallet and speed of the SNES really made games back then shine. Plus I love its controller :D

For me, the NES has many great memories. Even though I started with an Atari, the NES was my first "at home arcade". I beat my first game, Legend of Zelda, and taped it on a VCR. My parents had a conversion van with a TV on the ceiling, and hooked up a VCR and my NES to it. I remember a vacation to Chicago where I got SMB3 at a Toys R Us when it first came out, and played it in the van on the way home. I actually got a SNES after a PS1. NES gets my vote.

I had a hard time picking between the Atari and Intellivision. While the Intellivision was technically superior, the 2600 basically trailblazed home videogaming and made it what it is today, and I never owned so many games or played so many hours on any other system (of course a lot of that might have had to do with me being a child and having time to burn).

So both for nostalgia and historical reasons, I chose the Atari.

NES is a close call though too, as it brought arcade games home (or close replicas of arcade games anyways)

I have a prference for :

The Atari 5200
Panasonic 3DO

* Both great machines! Always thought the 3DO was a better machine than the original Sony Playstation which was released during that time period. I would include Dreamcast at this time as well.

Here is a link of some of the history of some of these consoles.

http://www.thegameconsole.com/

My first console, so still my favorite!

http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/Odyssey2.jpg

Always thought the 3DO was a better machine than the original Sony Playstation which was released during that time period.

Wow. I never thought I would hear anyone say that. I'd love to hear why you think this way. The PSX had many of the 3DO's best games as ports, was more powerful, and was, of course, around far longer and had about 5 times as many games. Unless you're joking?

Well, as much as I love the advancement of ultra-realism on the 360, I actually hold an emotional attachment to the last great system from legendary SEGA. I got off work, rode my bike to K-mart, and got the DREAMCAST and Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure truly wowed me! What a great night. Crazy Taxi, the introduction of the amazing 2k series-Nba 2k, Nfl 2k, Marvel vs. Capcom, Soul Caliber, etc.-some great, and very fun games. Ironically, most the same people who worked on the Official Dreamcast Magazine now work on the Official XBOX360 mag. Some people just have a habit of recognizing greatness.:cool:

But, out of all of the available choices, I've got to vote for the original SONY PLAYSTATION. Games like Symphony of the Night, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, NFL Gameday, really made for some of the best gaming days. On any system, a killer line-up is hard to forget.
NES will always be the Godfather.

Yeah, I remember playing Crazy Taxi. It would've been a fun game, but I got real sick the night I rented it. I couldn't play it for years without getting sick again.

I have a prference for :

The Atari 5200
Panasonic 3DO

* Both great machines! Always thought the 3DO was a better machine than the original Sony Playstation which was released during that time period. I would include Dreamcast at this time as well.

I had a Panasonic 3DO as well and at the time it was a really powerful piece of hardware. It also launched some franchises that are still being played today: it was the first console to have a Need for Speed game and the first to have a true 3D Madden football game. It also did 1st person and 3D spaceflight games really well. Truly a shame that Trip Hawkins released it at such a high price as that doomed it from the getgo.

The Sega Master System was also a very good console, far more powerful than the NES and it had some really great software: the original Phantasy Star (still one of the best RPGs ever for my money), a killer version of R-Type, great light gun support, and a very good LCD shutter 3D system for certain games.

If it came down to sheer innovation, I'd probably vote for one of those two consoles.

talling gamewise, i'd say, Atari, then SNES.

Hardware wise, Mod'd Xbox1. It had everything. Media center capability, DVD player, remote controlled, every emulator for all the old systems, quiet and is the only system I've ever owned that still gets daily use even 2 years after I got the 360.

But, the 360 is heading towards being the best gaming machine ever, and the ONLY machine to almost replace my PC gaming machine completely.

I think a lot of this has to do with how old you are, and how you remember playing each system through your childhood.

wow...lets see...consoles owned:

Atari 2600
Atar 7800
Sega Master System
NES
Genesis
SNES
Vectrex (wish I still had it...way kewl vector graphics system)
Atari Jaguar
3DO
PS2
Dreamcast
Xbox
Xbox 360

I'd definately say the system that had the highest quality game library overall was the Dreamcast. So many awesome unique games that still look great (over VGA) and played really well: Powerstone & Powerstone 2, Metropolis Street Racer, Virtua Tennis, Virtua On, MDK, RE Code Veronica, Crazy Taxi, Ferrari Challenge, all the Sega 2K sports titles...I can't think of a single game I got for the system that wasn't at least a 7.5 -8 out of 10, and that's saying alot for the quality of a game systems catalog.

As craptacular as the Jaguar was...it had an Aliens vs. Predator game that was the best I had ever played in the franchise.

The Vectrex was really fun! A portable version of the old vector arcade cabinets (i.e. asteriods, star castle, etc.) Had plastic overlays just like the full size units to add "color" and since it was vector graphics everything was a faithful translation of the arcade version...also had one of the coolest implemtations of the 3D glasses I'd ever used .It used a spinning color wheel versus the SMS LCD googles. The SMS glasses were technically better but I think the vector graphics are so much simpler it resulted in a 3D image with more depth (the fact there there was no background probably had alot to do with it).

I had a Panasonic 3DO as well and at the time it was a really powerful piece of hardware. It also launched some franchises that are still being played today: it was the first console to have a Need for Speed game and the first to have a true 3D Madden football game. It also did 1st person and 3D spaceflight games really well. Truly a shame that Trip Hawkins released it at such a high price as that doomed it from the getgo.

The Sega Master System was also a very good console, far more powerful than the NES and it had some really great software: the original Phantasy Star (still one of the best RPGs ever for my money), a killer version of R-Type, great light gun support, and a very good LCD shutter 3D system for certain games.

If it came down to sheer innovation, I'd probably vote for one of those two consoles.

Let me add the Wing Commander series as well for the 3DO!:D

Wow. I never thought I would hear anyone say that. I'd love to hear why you think this way. The PSX had many of the 3DO's best games as ports, was more powerful, and was, of course, around far longer and had about 5 times as many games. Unless you're joking?

TonyDp covered my feelings pretty well. The Sony Playstation had a much greater impact on gaming than 3DO ( over it's greater life span ), but when I bought the playstation to replace my 3DO, I always missed my 3DO. I never found the 3DO ports to Sony as good ( graphically ), as they looked on the
3DO despite the playstation having more power.

Dreamcast was the beste console of all time and will be in all time PERIOD. It didn’t have many games, but Shen Mue, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Sonic, Headhunter...gosh it was the beginning of a new era and possibly had even more high-grade games than the N64. But as it’s missing in this poll, I’d say SNES. It had wonderful games, too. It was the best 2D console IMO. Unfortunately the best games were Jump’n’Runs and RPGs, because the SNES was not powerful enough for many more recent genres like racing games or 3D games.

I'd definately say the system that had the highest quality game library overall was the Dreamcast. So many awesome unique games that still look great (over VGA) and played really well: Powerstone & Powerstone 2, Metropolis Street Racer, Virtua Tennis, Virtua On, MDK, RE Code Veronica, Crazy Taxi, Ferrari Challenge, all the Sega 2K sports titles...I can't think of a single game I got for the system that wasn't at least a 7.5 -8 out of 10, and that's saying alot for the quality of a game systems catalog.

I forgot about Powerstone and Virtua Tennis! Your right, most games for the DREAMCAST seemed well made and very fun to play.

3DO was pretty mindblowing for a little while prior to the ps1. going from genesis games to madden, road rash, need for speed, etc....it was a huge step up at the time.

"i dont think any console since then has been able to do that."

It's called the DS. :)



Well, the Ds is not a "console". It is a handheld, plain and simple. And technically, the GBA was actually first to do that on a heldheld since it was in essence a scaled down SNES.

The DS like many other newer gaming units struggles to find a balance between gameplay and visuals. Rarely do games get both right. On the SNES/GBA, the technology had been out for so long, it was reletivly easy to program for (and cheaper) that it enabled games to have a higher level of quality then many other systems.

I would still say that overall, not many systems have been uble to have the same draw as the SNES had. A good way to prove that it isnt simply nostalgia talking is the fact that many of the games from the SNES days were ported over the the GBA and sold AMAZING. They were just as fun to play yet just as hard. And even the newer games in the franchise such as the 2 new metroid games and theZelda games were among some of the best games made to date.

Metroid (man I'm drawing a blank on the names of them) for the GBA were amazing games. As was Zelda. They were better then 75% of the games that come out now. They had the PERFECT blend of graphics, gameplay and most importantly, replayability.

Theres another thing alot of new games dont have, replayablilty. I still fire up old SNES games, yet once I'm don witha newer game, It's rare that I go back and play it.

I'm done for now. Continue with your regular programming.

3DO was pretty mindblowing for a little while prior to the ps1. going from genesis games to madden, road rash, need for speed, etc....it was a huge step up at the time.

I like you went from the Sega to the 3DO, and I totally agree! I bought my first 3DO for $350 ( wow, alot when I think about it , they were $700 ), and I was totally blown away. I suppose I was just a little underwelmed when I went to the PSX.

TonyDp covered my feelings pretty well. The Sony Playstation had a much greater impact on gaming than 3DO ( over it's greater life span ), but when I bought the playstation to replace my 3DO, I always missed my 3DO. I never found the 3DO ports to Sony as good ( graphically ), as they looked on the
3DO despite the playstation having more power. I'm very fond of my 3DO and still break it out occasionaly to play something but it was no match for the PS1, crappy ports not withstanding. I can't imagine seeing anything like Crash Bandicoot or Tomb Raider on the 3DO.

I voted PS2, it's all about the games. It was a tough choice between PS 1 and 2 though.

If you had a 360 and a Snes side by side back in the day or any other time you would take the 360 in a heartbeat.

Stop pretending warm fuzzies and memories of childhood sleepovers where you played side-scrolling crap for 8 hours at a time is what defines the best console ffs.

Who says it's not all fun now? C'mon.
I know I'm not saying that it's not fun as hell right now. But there has been no games since (Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, FF2&3 and Super Metroid) that I've enjoyed like when I played those for the first time. So if we are judging based solely on the games then I'd have to say that SNES had the games that, when I played them, I enjoyed them the most. Gaming is incredible right now but there have been no games yet that I can "feel" like I did with those.

I'm very fond of my 3DO and still break it out occasionaly to play something but it was no match for the PS1, crappy ports not withstanding. I can't imagine seeing anything like Crash Bandicoot or Tomb Raider on the 3DO.

I voted PS2, it's all about the games. It was a tough choice between PS 1 and 2 though.

I never went to the PS2. I went from PS1 to the PC, where I played heavily on-line. It is just now that I've come back to the console with the XBox 360. With the 360 & PS3 ( don't have one yet), we have really quality on-line gaming with great graphics!:)

I gotta go with the PSone, if just for the fact that gaming "grew up" during that era. Instead of just 2D scrolling sprites in a parallax scrolling world you had full 3D. Instead of comic book text cutscenes you had full FMV with (usually somewhat awful) voice acting. Instead of cheezy FM synth audio you had licensed CD quality music. And instead of cartoony 'kids' games you started seeing games with mature storylines, and new genres like survival horror, and the beginnings of the GTA series.

I never went to the PS2. I went from PS1 to the PC, where I played heavily on-line. It is just now that I've come back to the console with the XBox 360. With the 360 & PS3 ( don't have one yet), we have really quality on-line gaming with great graphics!:)Yeah, I did a lot of PC gaming (mainly online) during the PS2 era. My PS2 library is pretty slim as a result. I'm back to consoles too now that my PC is too old to run anything much.

I like you went from the Sega to the 3DO, and I totally agree! I bought my first 3DO for $350 ( wow, alot when I think about it , they were $700 ), and I was totally blown away. I suppose I was just a little underwelmed when I went to the PSX.Nice deal on your 3DO by the way. I still remember shelling out full price for mine. Was it really that much? :eek:

Vectrex (wish I still had it...way kewl vector graphics system)

The Vectrex was really fun! A portable version of the old vector arcade cabinets (i.e. asteriods, star castle, etc.) Had plastic overlays just like the full size units to add "color" and since it was vector graphics everything was a faithful translation of the arcade version...also had one of the coolest implemtations of the 3D glasses I'd ever used .It used a spinning color wheel versus the SMS LCD googles. The SMS glasses were technically better but I think the vector graphics are so much simpler it resulted in a 3D image with more depth (the fact there there was no background probably had alot to do with it).

There's a couple Vectrex systems for sale on Ebay if you really want another. One is only like 49 bucks with a bunch of games.

Dreamcast was the beste console of all time and will be in all time PERIOD. It didn’t have many games, but Shen Mue, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Sonic, Headhunter...gosh it was the beginning of a new era and possibly had even more high-grade games than the N64.

Shen Mue!!!! OMG, the memories! Please, DREAMCAST was crazy good.

For PS2, I remember GTAIII being big, but it was on XBOX too. DMC was big for PS2, but what else did PS2 really have besides a bunch of off-road racing games? At least, that's the way I remember it. I could swear I would walk into the game section, and there would be a ton of off-road racing games for it. Oh, yeah, it had MGS also. Anything else? I was too busy playing Halo...and Madden:rolleyes:.

There's a couple Vectrex systems for sale on Ebay if you really want another. One is only like 49 bucks with a bunch of games.

Wow, $49 really makes me suspect the condition. I read a while back that this was supposed to be one of the most colectable game consoles due to the fact that the technology was completely unique and I think quantites were somewhat limited.

I had read somehting a few years ago that enthusists had been paying $1k or more to get one in good condition...either that was complete fabrication or the guy who's selling it for $49 has no idea what he has (or it just flatout doesn't work).

No PC-Engine? No vote, list is incomplete overall many consoles are missing

If I still had my sega master system I'd recycle it hahahhaa.

N64 rocked because of one game in particular (goldeneye).

The original xbox still gets my nod because Microsoft took consoles to a whole new level with Halo and xbox live. I mean seriously, you can actually download other console classics and arcade games on your xbox. How cool is that?

n64 would have to be the greatest of all time. if the 360 continues to pump out great games then it will take the throne.

I would think the N64 would rank up there with some of the worst consoles of all time. The number of standout games on that system can be measured on one hand.
All I remember seeing were endless clones of the same kart-racing or mario-ish 3D platformers just with different names slapped on the box.

Actually, I'd consider the GameCube to be a bigger failure than the N64....I'd consider them both failures, regardless of how they sold.

I'm sticking to my neo geo call. It was so far ahead of its time. Sure the game packs were 180 bucks, but they were arcade quality. I remember this kid down the road had one and every game. He was kind of a dweeb, but he'd have everyone over for neo geo sessions and always had tasty snacks and his mom was hot to boot. That had to be over 15 years ago! My how time flies... Baseball stars and Nam '75 were the shiznit and who can forget about Metal Slug and King of Monsters. The NEO GEO put everything else to shame.

Genesis and Dreamcast at least belong as voting options.

In reality its hard for me to pick one, but those were two of the ones I expected to see on the list and I've had nearly all of them, including all on your list.

I cannot imagine anyone voting for anything other than the Atari or NES. The Atari was the first successful cart based console (HUGE coming from the Telstar/light gun era) and the NES was the first worlwide successful console. Nothing thats come after really made that kind of impact.
Why? They are only great for nostalgia.. Ask anyone if they would rather have a xbox or Atari 2600..

NES hands down.

Why? They are only great for nostalgia.. Ask anyone if they would rather have a xbox or Atari 2600..


No way. Go play through Metroid, Super Mario Brothers or Legend of Zelda. They are still fun. Graphically they are dated, but not gameplay wise.

Super Nintendo,I still got one sitting in my closet with a handful of games,great memories.After that,maybe the first Playstation.....

n64 would have to be the greatest of all time. if the 360 continues to pump out great games then it will take the throne.
Biggest gaming regret: Never played Super Mario 64.(ah!) I was really interested in that game, but the PLAYSTATION caused me to forget all about it. I'm still bummed that I haven't played one the greatest Mario experiences ever.

Biggest gaming regret: Never played Super Mario 64.(ah!) I was really interested in that game, but the PLAYSTATION caused me to forget all about it. I'm still bummed that I haven't played one the greatest Mario experiences ever.

wow really,I'd say it's a must play even 12 years later...

dreamcast

dreamcast

Dreamcast. It's the only system I kept when I moved on to the new stuff.

I miss the days of games that are easy to pickup and learn but are hard to master. Those side scrollers with limited buttons would get you sucked in a lot faster than the 3d stuff today with a million buttons.

The new super mario bros for the DS is the only modern game I have really enjoyed, I wish they would make more 2d scrollers today.

I personally miss 2d scrollers and started hating gaming when Wolfenstien and all the 3d crap starting coming out. After a while it felt liike the same game clone over and over and over again and got boring to me.

I would think the N64 would rank up there with some of the worst consoles of all time. The number of standout games on that system can be measured on one hand.
All I remember seeing were endless clones of the same kart-racing or mario-ish 3D platformers just with different names slapped on the box.

Actually, I'd consider the GameCube to be a bigger failure than the N64....I'd consider them both failures, regardless of how they sold.Funny. Many of my favorite games of the past decade are on those two systems.

Some of the greats on N64:
Super Mario 64 (pinnacle of platformers)
Ocarina of Time (pinnacle of the Zelda series)
Waverace (some of the best water physics ever)
1080
Goldeneye (this game defined multiplayer FPSs on both PC and console)
Blast Corps
Pilotwiings 64
Turok (this game defined how console FPSs would work)

Some of the greats on GC:
Wind Waker (an unsung and underappreciated masterpiece)
RE4 (the definitive version of one of the best games ever made)
Eternal Darkness
Metroid Prime 1 & 2
Twilight Princess (this game is better on GC than on Wii)
Viewtiful Joe (the first and best of the recent onslaught of retro-style games)

It's true that neither system had as many games as their competitors, but the number of amazing games on each easily outshone the number of similarly great games available on the other consoles. The Wii isn't doing so well in that regard, even if its sales are amazing.

dreamcast


but since it isnt in the poll i chose NES

Wha? Virtual Boy tennis gets not one nod? I mean sure it cost more in batteries than most hybrid cars today, but come on... that was VR, and all gaming went in that direction after it....... ok wait maybe not. But seriously, I actually felt bad and played it just to make my parents happy when they got it for me. Then I want back to my GB.

But seriously? There are only a few key innovations in gaming. I'm not talking a new genre or better graphics, cause that's progression really, I mean real Innovation. One of the best innovations to date, I think, is the Wii and it's style of play. Mind you, I think of the Wii as more of an interactive game night with friends, but seriously it's probably the most fun I've had on a console ever.

Besides that, shame on the person that said n64 was bad. Goldeneye alone brought about everyone's love of the FPS. Without it I doubt there would even be such a niche market today.

But if you want the end all: Voodoo. The first 3d gfx video card, led to the nvidia that we have today.

Sega Master System. Oh, the memories...like being 90% of the way through Zillion and having the console lock up from static electricity while trying to tap the Pause button. :rolleyes:

But if you want the end all: Voodoo. The first 3d gfx video card, led to the ATI Xenos that we have today.

fixed that for ya.

My Commodore 64.

I believe those who say SNES are quite young. By the time SNES came out I was already doing IBM PC and C64 stuff. Where are those guys?

What? i have to pick a console? Dreamcast it is then. This is because I bought it myself. The NES/SNES have kiddies in mind and parents who bought those consoles did not like what they saw on other teen oriented consoles.

xbox360

I believe those who say SNES are quite young. By the time SNES came out I was already doing IBM PC and C64 stuff. Where are those guys?Eh? The C64 came out in 1982 (a year before the NES). The SNES came out in 1991. Either you were really late to the C64 party, or I'm really confused by your comment.

This is because I bought it myself. The NES/SNES have kiddies in mind and parents who bought those consoles did not like what they saw on other teen oriented consoles.The competition with the NES was other "kiddie" consoles (Sega Master System), and at the time that the SNES was released, there weren't a lot of "teen-oriented" games on other consoles (Sega Genesis and TG-16). "Teen-oriented" games didn't really start hitting the mainstream until the subsequent generation (PS1, N64). I think you've got your console eras mixed up a bit here. :)

Dreamcast? Just because it isn't on the list doesn't mean you should vote for it. This is for "the greatest console of ALL TIME", not niche consoles that a few people REALLY like.

"Dreamcast? Just because it isn't on the list doesn't mean you should vote for it. This is for "the greatest console of ALL TIME", not niche consoles that a few people REALLY like."

So for some reason you believe that your opinion is more valid that the people that voted for Dreamcast? Good luck with that!

Super Mario 64 (pinnacle of platformers)
Ocarina of Time (pinnacle of the Zelda series)
Waverace (some of the best water physics ever)
Goldeneye (this game defined multiplayer FPSs on both PC and console)

The above are the only games that stand out on that system. I removed some questionable entries (Blast Corps..give me a break).

You could say that the Banjo Kazooie games belong up there (or at least one of em) and of course MarioKart 64 you left off.....but thats my point, for every 1 standout title there were 20 that were just *awful*.

The N64, to me, was like trying to buy an Atari 2600 game in 1983...for every one decent one there were about 30 othres that should never have been made.


Some of the greats on GC:


I'd add SW....but you're making my point here.....


It's true that neither system had as many games as their competitors, but the number of amazing games on each easily outshone the number of similarly great games available on the other consoles. The Wii isn't doing so well in that regard, even if its sales are amazing.

Never said it didn't have some great games, problem is...it only had *some* great games. There were some really fun games on the Magnavox Odyssey II, but you wont see me listing it as one of the greatest consoles :D

Thats what I was getting at....the n64 and GC had some great games...but the ratio of crap to good was like 20:1. Thats why I say its one of the worst. For my playstation I wound up with a wall full of great games. For the N64 it would have been a shelf with 4-6 carts on it for the life of the system.
IMHO, of course.

I miss the days of games that are easy to pickup and learn but are hard to master. Those side scrollers with limited buttons would get you sucked in a lot faster than the 3d stuff today with a million buttons.


Thats probably why the handhelds are doing so well...they tend to keep alive these types of games which is all the gaming alot of people really want to do.
This is also why Xbox360's arcade downloads are so popular


I personally miss 2d scrollers and started hating gaming when Wolfenstien and all the 3d crap starting coming out. After a while it felt liike the same game clone over and over and over again and got boring to me.

....but thats why Wolfenstein and those games became so popular, people got tired of every game being nothing more than a side scroller..for every Earthworm Jim there were a dozen other cookie-cutter sidescrollers that just made you go yawn.

I mean side scrollers had been with us from 1981 or so...and its still what we were mostly playing even in 91!!

I'm seeing a couple of definitions for "greatest" here. There's historically greatest and personally greatest. Historically speaking it could be the Atari 2600, NES, or PS1.

But on a personal level, which is what I think the OP intended, when I think back to the games that affected me the most I have to stick with the PS2. This is just the cream of the crop:

Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
GTA series
MGS 2 and 3
Final Fantasy 10 and 12
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Ractchet & Clank series
Bully
God of War 1 and 2

But like I said earlier it's almost a tossup with the PS1. These games also made a big impact on me:

Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy Tactics
MGS
Tomb Raider 1 and 2
Resident Evil 1 and 2
Warhawk
Twisted Metal 1 and 2
Crash Bandicoot series
Jumping Flash 1 and 2

I've got fond memories of hundreds of games before these on various consoles but nothing that would stand up to the ones I posted above. Nothing in the Nintendo/Sega era really excited me. Those were my C64 and Amiga days.

The above are the only games that stand out on that system. I removed some questionable entries (Blast Corps..give me a break).Did you ever play Blast Corps? That was one of the most fun, innovative games of that generation.

You could say that the Banjo Kazooie games belong up there (or at least one of em) and of course MarioKart 64 you left off.....but thats my point, for every 1 standout title there were 20 that were just *awful*.Not quite. You yourself said that there weren't even that many games released on the system overall. I was listing the games that were so good, it made the system great. I left Kart 64 and the two Banjo games off for good reason. They were really good games, but not great.

The N64, to me, was like trying to buy an Atari 2600 game in 1983...for every one decent one there were about 30 othres that should never have been made.Not sure what you're saying about the Atari. It was a fantastic system with some fantastic games.

Never said it didn't have some great games, problem is...it only had *some* great games. There were some really fun games on the Magnavox Odyssey II, but you wont see me listing it as one of the greatest consoles :DMy point was actually that the N64 and GC had more great games than the competition. Sure, other systems had a couple of greats, but not nearly as many classics and standouts as those two Nintendo systems.

For my playstation I wound up with a wall full of great games. Here's where we disagree. My list of truly "great" PS1 games looks something like this:
FF7
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
FF Tactics

My PS2 list is only slightly longer. And my Xbox list would be sparse indeed.

Having owned them all, and not giving into nostalgia...I'm going to have to say the 360 has given me the most enjoyment. Not to mention the fact that it's single-handily revolutionized the console online experience.

Having owned them all, and not giving into nostalgia...I'm going to have to say the 360 has given me the most enjoyment. Not to mention the fact that it's single-handily revolutionized the console online experience.

very true stangs, i was a hc pc gamer until funds got low and i owned a 360. no need now :p

i voted for the snes though because i think it had the longest shelf life for me. i must have owned like 50+ games for it. my fav being the friggin game that came with the system! super mario world! omg what a game. must have played through it completely like 6 or 7 times. not to mention 2 or 3 times on the gba. lol. i became much pickier after that.

i feel you ppl about the dc though.

i'd vote for the dreamcast as the best console that should have succeeded but didnt - the quality of nearly every release was top notch. my fav game being doa2. i must have played it for like 1,000+ hours.

Having owned them all, and not giving into nostalgia...I'm going to have to say the 360 has given me the most enjoyment. Not to mention the fact that it's single-handily revolutionized the console online experience.

1. Unseated the Sony king from the top;
2. Made PC gamers look like money-wasters;
3. Revolutionized online play...

Compelling argument for the 360.

hands down, the best made was my Sega Saturn, it's one of 2 console that i've ever owned that i never has a problem with! the original World Series Baseball was untouchable back then...

and yes, my Japanese Dreamcast is still running strong, 10 years later...

Having owned them all, and not giving into nostalgia...I'm going to have to say the 360 has given me the most enjoyment. Not to mention the fact that it's single-handily revolutionized the console online experience.

+ 1 I have to agree! I have fond memories of alot of these systems but the 360 has probably given me the most fun per title ( meaning I have alot of fun despite only owning a dozen titles, attributed to the on-line play:D ).

Having owned them all, and not giving into nostalgia...I'm going to have to say the 360 has given me the most enjoyment. Not to mention the fact that it's single-handily revolutionized the console online experience.Though I don't agree that the 360 is the best console of all time, I will say that it single-handedly evened the playing field.

Where before I would argue that Nintendo had previoiusly reigned as the most consistently impressive game development studio (making its consoles the best of each previous generation since the NES), this is the first console era where that's not true. This gen's Metroid-Zelda-Mario triumverate has fallen very far in terms of quality and innovation. The 360 (and to some extent the PS3) has stepped up and garnered some truly classic exclusives in just a few short years.

"but thats my point, for every 1 standout title there were 20 that were just *awful*."

That is true of *every* system. There was nothing especially terrible about the N64's lineup in that regard.

"but thats my point, for every 1 standout title there were 20 that were just *awful*."

That is true of *every* system. There was nothing especially terrible about the N64's lineup in that regard.
I think that is why many of us have protested for the Dreamcast's inclusion in the poll. The quality to crap ratio actually favored quality titles on the Dreamcast.

Nope! I love my Dreamcasts (plural), but there was just as high of a crap ratio as on any other system. :) For every amazingly innovative Phantasy Star Online, I can show you 20 Chronicles Of Pern, just as for every Psychonauts on the Xbox I can show you 20 Barbie's Horse Adventures, etc, etc.

I would think that the desire for Dreamcast is that when the games were good, they where a huge step forward. Seaman still has nothing like it. Shenmue was an amazing representation of a living city, not matched for years afterward. Soul Calibur is probably the highest quality launch title ever released and is still one of the most well balanced fighting games with the added bonus of being playable by *anyone*, not just the hardcore. I could go on, but you get the idea. Innovation florished on that little machine.

That's another thing. It was *little*.

You may be right, but I can't remember many titles that I actually bought for the Dreamcast that I wound up disappointed with. The only one I can think of was the WWF game, I promptly took that one back.

On the other hand, my fascination with that tiny machine led me to play about 90% of the Dreamcast games ever released world-wide. Also, I have personally owned every single game released in the US. Now, alot of those games were only in my DC for a couple of minutes before I passed judgement on them as being crap, but crap they were! :) The games that were good though, were oh so good!

One thing that can be said for alot of those bad games though, is that they at least tried to do something new. That natural drive for innovation that devs seemed to have when making stuff for the Dreamcast is what I think made the DC special. If you think about it, the Dreamcast was the last console that came out before EA, Activision and Ubisoft consumed all of the smaller developers in the west, followed by massive consolidation in the east. Small developer mentality combined with relatively low-cost, easy development created a flurry of innovation that we didn't see again until the Nintendo DS showed up.

Well that was completely uncalled for. You might want to check your vagina for sand.

Ready to Rumble on DC was fun as hell! The hits just keep on coming.

Like others have said, the DC was great b/c it pushed the creative envelope in almost every regard - in not only software but also hardware.

It had: built in modem, optional broadband adaptor, video at the controller (VMU), a ton of peripherals (including kb&m), native VGA output... and the list could go on.

I still have mine... and still enjoy playing it.

Eh? The C64 came out in 1982 (a year before the NES). The SNES came out in 1991. Either you were really late to the C64 party, or I'm really confused by your comment.



All I'm saying is the SNES never persuaded me. I knew there was a bunch of people using it (C64). I've had the VIC20 before that so no I'm not late to the party. Those that got hooked in 1991+ by the SNES are.



The competition with the NES was other "kiddie" consoles (Sega Master System), and at the time that the SNES was released, there weren't a lot of "teen-oriented" games on other consoles (Sega Genesis and TG-16). "Teen-oriented" games didn't really start hitting the mainstream until the subsequent generation (PS1, N64). I think you've got your console eras mixed up a bit here. :)

No mix up here. I just didnt follow those consoles. Whatever happened to the C64 crowd..

Man, this one was hard to vote on...